Textbook Rental Program Coming to Campus Bookstore

November 17, 2010

Beginning with January Term 2011, the OBU Bookstore will give students a new lease on their budget-focused, hectic lives by offering a textbook rental program designed to deliver maximum savings and convenience.

The textbook rental program will allow students to rent their selected textbooks for less than 50 percent of the cost of purchasing them. Plus, as an added convenience, students will be able to rent their books either in the store or from the store’s website. To view the website, click here.

“We are glad to be offering this rental option to provide students with savings on textbooks,” said Randy Smith, executive vice president for Business and Administrative Services at OBU. “We are committed to making Christian higher education as affordable as possible.”

This decision to offer a textbook rental program was a joint decision made by OBU and Barnes & Noble College Booksellers.

“We are committed to providing students with the widest range of content options and price points available,” said Kimberly Otte, vice president at Barnes & Noble College Booksellers. “Whether students are interested in new books, used, digital, unbundled, or now rentals, they know they can find what they want at the OBU Bookstore.”

As part of the program, students can pay rental fees using any form of tender currently accepted by the bookstore, including campus debit cards. Students are allowed to highlight or mark in rented books and may choose to convert their rental to a purchase during the first two weeks of class.

The rental period lasts for the duration of the term or semester. Courtesy e-mails will go out near the end of the term or semester reminding students to return their rented textbooks. Books are due back by the last day of finals, and books not returned or returned in unusable condition will be subject to replacement and processing fees. Books may be returned in person or mailed to the bookstore.

Beginning in fall 2010, more than 300 colleges and universities offered textbook rental programs through campus bookstores. In a follow-up survey, more than 90 percent of students said they would rent from the bookstores again.